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Boomer Mikey
08-06-2006, 02:26 AM
BUMPING-UP Bullet Size

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Rossi_1892_Rifle-2.JPG
I special ordered a Rossi 1892 .44mag Rifle a few years back for long range side match duty and loved the way it shot Bear Creek .430 240 grain SWC’s with one exception – leading. I didn’t shoot many rounds in side matches but cleaning the beast was a drag. I finally got around to slugging the bore in that Rifle and guess what? .431 bullets in a .4329 bore is a recipe for leading! A little fire lapping to clean-up the rough spots should produce a .433-.4335 bore; however, none of my dozen or so .44 moulds will produce .434” diameter bullets, even with linotype.

After placing my order with the 44-444 fat bullet group buy and ordering a custom .434 sizer die from Buffalo Arms I started wondering if I could “BUMP-UP” existing bullets to .434” diameter in the RCBS lubricator-sizer as it was the strongest on my bench.

The custom die arrived today so I started tinkering and found I could bump-up the Speer 240 grain SWC to .434 easily (BHN8). Then I tried the beloved Bear Creek 240 grain SWC’s; yes, they bumped-up ok (BHN11) and I liked the shape of the nose when using an RCBS #421 nose punch better than the original. Then I tried a 300 grain RCBS 44 SWCGC cast from linotype (BHN22). It did bump-up; however, the strain of doing 5 bullets pushed the handle beyond its limits.


http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Rossi_1892_Rifle-1.JPGhttp://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Bumping-Up_Bullet_Size-9.JPG


I removed the taper cut into the sizing die punch for flat bases and re-enforced the handle by welding some 1/8” mild steel stock to the handle and continued the testing of more bullets in my inventory. The results are as follows:

Speer .44 cal 240 grain SWCPB (BHN8) (actual weight 240.5 grains)
Original diameter .431 New diameter .434 Original length .730 New length .668
Original meplat .250 New meplat .290 Nose punch RCBS #421
Original nose to crimp groove length .325 New nose to crimp groove length .290

Bear Creek .44 cal 240 grain SWCPB (BHN11) (actual weight 242 grains)
Original diameter .431 New diameter .434 Original length .730 New length .695
Original meplat .280 New meplat .300 Nose punch RCBS #421
Original nose to crimp groove length .330 New nose to crimp groove length .315

Lyman .44 cal 240 grain FNPB (BHN22) (240.5 grains linotype .432 as cast)
Original diameter .432 New diameter .434 Original length .711 New length .685
Original meplat .280 New meplat .300 Nose punch RCBS #636
Original nose to crimp groove length .370 New nose to crimp groove length .350

Lyman .44 cal 275 grain FNGC (BHN22) (282 grains w/gc linotype .4325 as cast)
Original diameter .4325 New diameter .434 Original length .806 New length .790
Original meplat .295 New meplat .310 Nose punch RCBS #636
Original nose to crimp groove length .425 New nose to crimp groove length .410

RCBS .44 cal 300 grain SWCGC (BHN22) (297 grains w/gc linotype .431 as cast)
Original diameter .431 New diameter .434 Original length .905 New length .875
Original meplat .275 New meplat .310 Nose punch RCBS #636
Original nose to crimp groove length .425 New nose to crimp groove length .395

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Bumping-Up_Bullet_Size-1.JPGhttp://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Bumping-Up_Bullet_Size-2.JPG

Left top - RCBS 44 300 SWCGC, Left middle - Lyman 44 275 FNGC, Left bottom - Lyman 44 240 FNPB.
Right top - Speer 44 240 SWCPB, Right bottom - Bear Creek 44 240 SWCPB.

2 Bullets on left side of each set are original size for comparison.

I controled the length and diameter of the swaged “bumped-up” bullets by lowering the depth rod until the bullet wasn’t compressed at all and raising the depth rod half a turn at a time until I got close to the desired size, then fine tuned the depth adjustment. Adjustment was very repeatable. Best results were obtained with a nose punch a little larger than the original. Gas checks seat and size-up with the bullet perfectly.

Now I have a great selection of bullet weights for my Rossi 1892 Rifle and no additional expense of several molds and keeping a hundred pounds of bullets in stock for just this rifle.

Now I need a .444 marlin to test these over sized bullets with as well!

Boomer

joatmon
08-06-2006, 02:22 PM
Thanks for the report. My thoughts are pulling me to the shop to see what damage er improvements I can make. Aaron

(have about 3000 44-40 boolits that need to grow or melt)

Boomer Mikey
08-06-2006, 08:57 PM
I'll bet you thought I was done, and some of you were thinking to yourself "Wow what a kluge job on the handle!". Well, you didn't know I had an extra new handle in the parts drawer, and, after looking at that ugly looking handle in the picture - I just had to make it right.

I found some 1/4" ground flat tool steel left over from another project and decided to use some of it for this job. 1/8" stock would be fine and 3/16" stock would be my preference. This is about 400% over-kill; but, no one will argue it isn't strong enough. All the hardware is grade 3 as that's what I had on hand. If you shear a 1/4" grade 3 bolt something is wrong!


http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/RCBS_Lubrisizer_Handle-1.JPGhttp://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/RCBS_Lubrisizer_Handle-2.JPG

The new 1" aluminum handle is 12" long and requires about half the effort when bumping-up linotype bullets.


http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/RCBS_Lubrisizer_Handle-3.JPGhttp://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/RCBS_Lubrisizer_Handle-4.JPG


I need to be careful not to rip the sizer off the bench now. Like the three musketeers, the three sizers are ready to do their duty.


Enjoy,

Boomer

Four Fingers of Death
08-06-2006, 11:29 PM
Next week we are going to see a huge hydraulic ram attached to the top of the lubesizer! :-)

That photo that looks like bar stock with a reverse dimple in the bottom is the bump up die is it?

I've had no exerience in this area.

Please explain as one of our dumber female politicians was heard to say every no and then.

PS, I've taken the liberty of copying your pics, they will help me when I attempt this (project no.453).
Mick.

Four Fingers of Death
08-06-2006, 11:42 PM
PS, What are the commercial cast boolits coated with. Most f the comm cast ones here use Teflon. Mick.

Boomer Mikey
08-07-2006, 12:19 AM
Hi Mick,

:idea: Hydraulic Ram?

The Speer bullets are coated with some moly based lube and they are messy. The Bear Creek bullets are also moly coated and some kind of coating over that maybe teflon (i have no idea), but they shoot very well.

I use Bear Creek moly coated bullets in several guns from .30 cal up to 45-70.
Yes it's cheating; however, when you buy 5 boxes or more the shipping is free and I get to spend more time shooting and tinkering.

I'm gonna try some Bear Creek 55 grain .22's in my hornet soon.

Good luck, and your gonna need a stronger bench! [smilie=1:

Boomer

Maven
08-09-2006, 10:07 PM
BM, Great pics and impressive workmanship!

Boomer Mikey
08-10-2006, 03:32 AM
Hi Guys,

I used the monster handle and RCBS lube\sizer to bump up about 250 Bear Creek 240 grain SWC's Sunday then used about 150 of them to firelap the Rossi 1892 44 mag rifle. The bore ended up at .4331 in the throat and .4329 at the muzzle with some very slight variations in feel as a pure lead slug is pushed from the breech to the muzzle. It's too bad I have to work overtime this weekend or I would be at the range breaking this bad boy in again.

The process of bumping-up the bullets provided a great upper body workout.

Boomer

JCherry
08-10-2006, 01:23 PM
Boomer,

In your photos it appears your SAECO sizer is mounted about 45 degrees off of the table. Can you post a closer photo of your method of mounting your SAECO? It looks like a good idea.

Have Fun,

Thanks,

JCherry

Boomer Mikey
08-11-2006, 01:09 AM
Boomer,

In your photos it appears your SAECO sizer is mounted about 45 degrees off of the table. Can you post a closer photo of your method of mounting your SAECO? It looks like a good idea.

Have Fun,

Thanks,

JCherry

Sure JCherry,

I made a universal sizer mounting system based on the flanges of the RCBS and Lyman sizer bolt pattern.

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Lubricator_Sizer_Mounts_-1.JPGhttp://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Lubricator_Sizer_Mounts_-2.JPG

The Saeco sizer is bolted to an adapter plate with the same bolt patern as the RCBS and Lyman sizers.

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Lubricator_Sizer_Mounts_-3.JPG

Saeco sizer mounted on an adapter plate. The plates are 6061 aluminum 3/4" thick.

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Reloading_Bench_-1.JPGhttp://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/9030/medium/Reloading_Bench_-3.JPG

This same bolt pattern is duplicated on my main bench between loading press locations. 4 loading press locations are drilled and tapped to mount any of the presses. A 1/4" x 4" 6061 aluminum bar mounted to the bench with 5/16" FH hardware and fender washers on the bottom side is very solid.

After using the same bench for over 25 years the top was starting to look like swiss cheese. Now I can remove, install, or reconfigure presses and sizers on the bench in a matter of minutes.

I wish I had done this at least 20 years ago.:Fire:

Enjoy,

Boomer

357maximum
08-11-2006, 06:41 AM
BOOMER


Ya have yourself a nice setup there, I like it..alot. The" bins o, brass" on the back of the bench is what I need to do to my setup, that way sorting would be mucho simpler..

Good Job on them plates I really like that, are they heated in any way???

Michael

Boomer Mikey
08-11-2006, 10:56 PM
Hi Michael,

Yes, the plates are attached to Midway heaters in the picture with heat sink compound between the plate and heater to conduct heat better. I don't use the heaters much anymore after I switched to LBT Blue Soft lube. You can see the power switching box on the side of the bench with a row of switches for each of the three heaters and 3 tumblers under the bench.

Boomer

JCherry
08-11-2006, 11:33 PM
Boomer,

Nice set up. Thanks for posting the photos.

Have Fun,

JCherry

steveb
08-12-2006, 12:24 AM
Very nice Boomer!:-D